Maybe Never
by Truga
Summary: You only ever get one first of anything. Some people don't even get that... Wilson wants her love. House just plain wants her. Who'll take the blue ribbon? House/OC/Wilson
1. Chapter 1

_**DISCLAIMER: **__I do not own House M.D, nor am I making any money from the writing of this story. I'm just doing it for poops and giggles._

CHAPTER ONE

Pique

Average. If the middle-aged woman sitting in the clinic waiting room of the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital had been asked to describe herself in one word, it would be that. Her long hair was plain brown and tied back in a plait, her plain pale face was clean of makeup save for a small amount of mascara, her eyes a plain blue. She was wearing a slightly baggy black jumper zipped up to her chest to partially reveal a grey tank-top, a hood resting against her shoulders. Her black pants were several sizes too large and flared around her ankles to reveal plain black shoes with white laces. She wore no jewelery and seemed to have no bag with her.

It was almost difficult to believe that the little boy that sat beside her was hers, since they were so different in appearance, though still obviously related. The kid couldn't be any older than seven, but he was already long for his age and was almost unhealthily skinny. His hair was grey-blonde and needed a cut, his eyes were somewhere between green and brown, and his skin was pasty. His white shirt had 'I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?' written on it in black, his pants coloured with army print, his brown shoes scuffed.

In the middle of the kid's head, his hair was sticking up somewhat comically. Underneath his comical hair was a bump, roughly two inches in diameter, that stuck up noticeably. The bump was the reason that the boy was sitting boredly beside the average looking woman, who mirrored his tired-of-waiting expression.

"Ross?"

The woman looked up in almost perfect sync with the little boy when they heard their last name called by a nurse. They both stood up, and were guided towards an exam room. The kid clambered up onto the exam table while the woman leant against it and crossed her arms under her chest.

"You alright?" the woman asked the boy. He nodded, looking around the room. "Wanna lay down?" He shook his head. "'Kay."

That was the extent of the conversation between the two as they spent the next hour in the exam room. The little boy with the bump continued to look around the room with unnervingly intelligent eyes, while the woman leant lazily against the table and examined her shoes. They were still black.

After waiting out the hour in silence, the door finally opened and both occupants of the room turned to see who had finally arrived. The boy saw an old man with a walking stick, a blue folder in his other hand. The woman saw a man who apparently had no concern for his appearance, his clothes disheveled, his face unshaven, but seemed to have turned his slovenliness into his own sort of warped style.

House paused in the doorway. He never really had any expectations when he walked through exam room doors, but at least this time there was something not unpleasant waiting on the other side. There was a kid on the table, looking a little gaunt and overall unhealthy. But leaning against the table beside the sickly kid was a healthy young woman. And what a woman. Carefully hidden curves that she couldn't quite hide that practically begged for House to touch them, despite their nonexistent acquaintance. She had even considerately crossed her arms under her chest to push her cleavage up, just for him. And what cleavage.

"What's wrong with you?" the boy asked, nodding his head towards House's cane.

He looked from the kid to the woman, both of them watching him with mild curiosity. "Old war wound," he shortly explained, coming further into the room and closing the door behind him. He casually adjusted the thermostat on his way across the room.

The little boy shrugged. "Sucks to be you."

House made a face at the kid. "Rude." He turned from the little boy and addressed the woman, "Aren't you gonna scold your kid?"

Now the woman shrugged. "Not my kid."

"What, you just took him off the street and into the hospital in an ingenious plan to throw yourself at me? Well, it worked. My office is upstairs, let's go get it on." House gestured with his cane to the door, grinning all the while.

"As I'm sure that women are constantly inventing ever more random means of 'throwing themselves at you', how about you look at the kid instead? And he's my nephew." The woman hadn't even flinched. Although, House didn't notice her arms tighten around her middle just a tiny bit.

"Raincheck, then," House promised for her. "So! What's wrong with you?"

House took a seat on the wheely chair and flipped open the kid's file, scanning through it. There was a brief family history explaining the Australian accent of both him and her, (apparently named Elijah and Amy Ross, but he'd never remember that,) and something about a benign cyst on his head. Throwing the file up onto the table beside the boy, he looked at his head and noticed the funny hair.

"This thing on his head was checked before we came over from Aus, but I don't think it's just a cyst," Amy explained, uncrossing her arms and leaning her hands behind her on the table. Her torso tilted almost unnaturally.

"And is this coming from your vast medical experience, or do you just have a propensity to mistrust doctors?" House asked, leaning forward to grab Elijah's head, tilting it down so he could check out the bump. The boy obediently obliged.

"Neither. It's coming from my belief that everyone is an idiot." House looked up at her, still holding the kid's head, as she continued, "The bump has grown to twice it's size over the last three days. He gets angry over nothing, is increasingly violent, gets unbearable headaches. Doesn't sound like something a 'benign' growth would do."

"No, it doesn't, does it?" House released the kid's head and was pleased when he didn't move. Gently, he parted the boy's hair and touched the bump.

"Ow!" Elijah flinched away from the doctor, slapping at his hands with a frown. "Don't touch it!"

"Fair enough. Can you describe your headaches for me?"

"It's kinda like an ache. In my head," Elijah deadpanned.

"Well, aren't you just a little bundle of sunshine!" House grinned and shrugged his shoulders. "I can see where your aunt gets it from."

"Lij, be serious," Amy reprimanded him, unzipping her jumper. It was steadily getting warmer in the room, and she seemed to be the only one noticing it. Of course, she was the only one wearing a heavy jumper.

"It feels like my brain is throbbing, trying to push out of my head or something," the boy explained with a sigh. "Sometimes it hurts all over, but other times it only hurts in the middle, just where the bump is."

"How'd you get the bump in the first place?" House asked, glancing sidelong at Amy. Wouldn't be long now...

"I fell over. I hit my head."

"He was at school," Amy elaborated with a loaded look at her nephew. He looked away. "Playing on the monkey bars. He fell down and whacked his head on part of the playground. The bump came up immediately. Apparently sister dearest thought it was just a bump and would go down. That was four months ago. She took him to the quacks, who said it was a cyst. Now, here we are."

"It's been there for over four months?" House asked, his face finally turning serious. He took a penlight out of his jacket pocket. Leaning forward, he flicked the light across Elijah's eyes.

"Yeah. It stayed small for a while, but then it started to grow really quickly." Exhaling loudly, Amy took her jumper off and chucked it on the countertop behind her.

House turned away from the boy for a second to admire his handy work. As he had expected, he was able to see a lot more of Amy without the big jumper. She wasn't skinny, solidly built, but as thin as her bone structure would allow. Curvaceous was the first word that came to mind, quickly followed by the word boobs. Her grey tank top was square cut, and low enough that he could see the swells of her full and perky breasts. Underneath the grey spaghetti string shoulder straps were thicker black straps, presumably from her bra. Her arms were long and pearly white like the rest of her exposed skin, neatly folded around her middle once more to boost her cleavage and enhance House's view.

Clearing his throat, House turned his attention back to the boy. "You ache anywhere else in your body? Gotten sick recently?"

"I've had a cough for about a week, but that's it." Elijah shrugged, clearly dismissing it as inconsequential, even if he didn't know that word.

"Hm. I think," House pushed his foot against the floor, wheeling over to the phone that was attached to the wall by the door, "I might need a consult." He took the phone down and dialled a number. "You might wanna see this... Of course it is. Why else would I call you? Exam Room One."

He hung up and grinned.

Wilson had been sitting quietly in his office doing paperwork when the phone on his desk rang. He guessed who it would be before picking it up, and his suspicions were confirmed.

"You might wanna see this."

"Is 'this' special code for a hot chick?" Wilson asked warily. He could tell by the tone in House's voice that it certainly wasn't anything medical, and there was really no other reason why his friend would call him.

"Of course it is. Why else would I call you? Exam Room One." He hung up before Wilson could reply.

Sighing a sigh of long suffering, Wilson got up and began to make his way down to the clinic. He had no idea why he indulged House in his childish games... Okay, so maybe he enjoyed ogling a good looking woman as much as the next man, but who could blame him? Besides, House had good taste in women. Physically, anyway.

Which was proven once again when Wilson opened the door to Exam Room One and was immediately confronted with an abundance of milky white skin. He stared at the woman that was staring back at him, his jaw moving as though words might come out.

She was definitely attractive. Her skin was so soft looking, her eyes so blue, her hair so shiny, her lips so plump, her chest so... exposed. "Uh," Wilson unintelligently offered before stepping into the room. Might as well try and sound smart and doctorly. "Hey." Genius.

"Dr Wilson! This fetching young woman's name is Amy. She is also _not _the patient! If you'll direct your eyes to the table, you'll find a young boy by the name of Elijah who is, in fact, what I called you down for. Honestly, some people see a pretty girl and their professionalism goes right out the window," House directed his last comment at Amy with a somewhat smug smile.

"Then what's Dr Wilson's excuse?" she asked, and this time both House and Wilson noticed when her arms tightened around her middle. Mainly because it made her bosom jump just that little bit higher, but still, they noticed.

"I'm sorry," Wilson apologised, stepping towards Amy with an outstretched hand. "Dr Wilson."

"I gathered." After a minute pause she took his hand somewhat hesitantly, and only let him shake it once before pulling it back and tucking it around herself.

He almost sighed as her soft, not exactly dainty hand slid from his. She was so warm, and it had been a long while since he'd... Then again, the entire room was a bit warm. Wilson turned to the thermostat on the wall and turned it down. House grimaced at him, but didn't comment.

"Bump on the noggin!" House exclaimed, gesturing with a hand to Elijah. "Go!"

Wilson spent the next ten minutes asking Elijah and Amy not only the questions that House had asked them, but some of his own. Admittedly one or seven of them were unnecessary, but Amy had such a pleasantly mellow voice he couldn't help it. There was a sort of calm that seemed to radiate from her and kept the kid well behaved when he was obviously a bit of a hell raiser under normal circumstances. Not to mention she hadn't covered herself up yet.

"I think it would be best if we took an x-ray of your nephew's head," Wilson finally concluded, moving to stand beside Amy.

"What would you be looking for?" Amy turned to face him, and looked up at him with such large, sincere eyes that he couldn't reply for a moment. She looked absolutely petrified, and it didn't suit her.

"U-Uh, at the moment it's probably nothing to be concerned about, but better to be safe than sorry," he assured her, reaching out to put a hand on her arm instinctually.

She tilted her body sideways, avoiding the physical contact. The sincerely terrified look on her face fell away as she took a tiny step away from Wilson. He blinked in confusion while House sat up a little straighter in his chair at the rebuff. What was up with that?

"I-I'll just go.. make the appointment. Be right back." And with a sidelong glance at House, Wilson left the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Dr Wilson." House gestured to the door before turning avidly to Amy. "What d'you think? I'm a much more attractive specimen, aren't I?"

"I hadn't noticed one way or the other," Amy replied offhandedly before immediately continuing, "What should I expect from the x-ray?"

A little disappointed that she hadn't commented on his attractiveness, House finally got up from the wheely chair and grabbed his cane, leaning heavily on it. "It could still be a benign cyst, maybe a calcium deposit. Who knows, could be cancer."

"What?" Elijah looked up in alarm at House at the mention of cancer. He knew that word.

Amy frowned at House. It was only the third facial expression she had exhibited other than boredom or fear, and he considered it a small victory. Next step, make her smile. "You don't have to be so blasé about it." Turning to her nephew, she said soothingly, "Don't worry, kid. I think you'd be a bit sicker if it was cancer."

"And this is coming from your vast medical experience once again, of course." House grinned.

She rolled her eyes, but that was it. House was even more disappointed when she grabbed her jumper and put it back on, zipping it up to her chest. At least he could still see cleavage. Amy put her hand on the kid's back, and he slid off the table.

"How long will Dr Wilson be?" she asked, crossing her arms under her chest once more. Elijah stood beside her, leaning into her leg.

House shrugged. "Dunno. Tell you what, though, why don't I take a look at you while we're waiting?"

"I'm fine." Amy's shoulders visibly hunched in a subconscious defensive gesture.

"No you're not. You've been leaning unnaturally on your legs and your torso is twisted. There's something wrong with your back."

"I know. I've got mild scoliosis and a twisted pelvis. Can't stand straight. Nothing you can do 'bout that, doc." Her shoulders relaxed, having perceived that the threat of any sort of close examination was gone.

"How long have you had that?"

"Diagnosed with scoliosis the day after I turned ten. Pretty humorous, since the doctor back then said it was most common in ten year old girls."

"Yeah," House laughed with a sardonic grin. "I'm surprised your sides didn't split."

Nothing was said for five minutes while the three of them waited for Wilson to make the appointment and come back. House filled his time with thoughts on what might have eventuated if pretty Amy had of taken him up on his offer and followed him upstairs into his office. Elijah imagined that the x-ray machine malfunctioned and turned him into a superhero. Amy stared at her shoes. They were still black.

The door opened and all three turned to see Wilson standing there. He once again stared at Amy, who stared right on back at him. Noting the fact that her jumper was on, he stepped into the room but left the door open behind him.

"I've booked you in for one o'clock, next Wednesday afternoon. Does that work for you?" he asked politely. It had been the earliest that he could fit them in. Wilson was a little anxious to have a look at the bump. Something wasn't sitting right, and it wasn't just Elijah's hair.

Amy nodded. "It's gonna have to. So, I guess I'll see you then. Ready to go, kid?" She asked, placing a hand on the back of the boy's head.

He nodded. "Yup." Amy inclined her head towards the two doctors. Elijah looked up at them. "Thank you." He clearly didn't mean it, but had apparently satisfied his aunt as far as social conventions went.

"Catch you both later," Amy said with a dismissive nod of her head as she lead her nephew out of the room.

House and Wilson followed her out of the examining room and stood side by side near the nurse's station as they watched her leave the clinic. The kid looked up at her and asked her something, to which she shrugged before they were lost from view around the corner. Both men had been admiring her backside, even if it was hidden behind baggy pants. Her hips swung enticingly. Her gait was slightly off-center and awkward but still somehow alluring.

"Dibs," Wilson said with finality.

"What?" House rounded on him, for all outward appearances, outraged. "You can't call dibs, I saw her first. 'Sides, she totally digs me."

"Oh yes, I could practically feel the chemistry in the room," Wilson replied sarcastically. "You're too old for her."

"You don't even know how old she is!"

"She looks twenty five. You're too old for her."

"Well... Phooey! We're in love!" House replied loudly and dramatically, making puppy dog eyes at his friend as well as momentarily drawing attention to his outburst. "You wouldn't want to come between true love, would you?"

"No, but I called dibs." Wilson slapped a hand on House's shoulder. "Besides, she totally digs me," he added as he turned and began to walk away.

House was right behind him, limping hastily to keep up. "No way she does!"

"Come on, you saw the way she was staring at me," Wilson defended, pressing the elevator button. True, he had been staring at her and for all he knew had initiated a contest. But there was something about the way her shoulders had infinitesimally relaxed at the sight of him that had made him want to stake a claim.

"Uh, yeah. Like you were an idiot." House had also noticed the sudden loss of tenseness when Wilson had entered the room, and had no plausible explanation for it. He paused, then asked, "Wanna make a bet?"

"Depends. Does it involve exploiting pretty women?"

"No." Wilson stared disapprovingly at House until he rolled his eyes and admitted, "Just the one pretty woman."

With a deep sigh, Wilson looked up as the elevator dinged to announce its arrival. As the doors slid open, he stepped inside. "What's the bet?"

"A hundred bucks says I kiss her before you do." House grinned evilly. Obviously one of the first things to cross his mind after meeting the woman had been kissing her. The very first thought had been, 'Wonder what she looks like naked'.

"That's just stupid. It could very well be that neither of us ever kiss her." As he said it, Wilson couldn't help but hope that it wasn't true. For him at least. He almost rolled his eyes at himself. It really had been too long if he was fantasising about kissing complete strangers.

"Afraid of losing?" House raised a brow in mock disappointment.

The elevator doors began to close. Wilson had less than three seconds to consider the bet, the likelihood that either he or House would even get close to Amy, and whether his conscience would allow him to continue a relationship that had begun with a stupid bet. Of course, he spent at least one second remembering how pretty she was, and how soft her hand had felt in his, and imagining what her lips might feel like.

"You're on," he said, and the door closed on a triumphantly grinning House.


	2. Chapter 2

_**DISCLAIMER: **__I do not own House M.D, nor am I making any money from the writing of this story. I'm just doing it for poops and giggles._

CHAPTER TWO

Benign

"I look like an idiot," Elijah moaned, holding his arms out.

"Nu-uh. You could model in that thing," his aunt replied with a small smile.

Amy's nephew stood in front of her, dressed in a pale green hospital gown that tied up at the side after folding over the front. He stared at her like she was insane, which only made her smile twitch a little higher. Wilson stood beside her, watching the banter between the two with his own increasing smile. They were inside an empty room while they waited for their turn with the machine. Someone else had taken their time slot because of an emergency, and so they were forced to wait a little longer.

Elijah turned to the doctor and asked, "How long will I have to wear this thing? It's stupid."

"It will depend on what we find in the x-ray. But your aunt is right, it looks fine," Wilson assured, smiling at both Elijah and Amy. When she turned her smile on him he positively gloated. He'd been wracking up the points since he'd met her in the waiting room at one. So far as he knew, he was miles ahead of House. An easy hundred. And some (most likely) incredible lip action.

Elijah crossed his arms over his chest and began to grumble under his breath, head tilted down. The smile immediately fell from his aunt's face, and Wilson was concerned. She turned to him. "Hey, can I have a gown too?"

"Uh, I don't think..." He trailed off mid sentence. Amy was staring so intently at him, practically willing him to say yes with her wide eyes. He looked down at the kid to see that he had stopped grumbling and was waiting for the answer too. Wilson smiled and nodded. "Sure."

So he went to the nearest supply closet and took out a medium sized gown. He handed it to Amy and was promptly pushed out of the room, perversely disappointed when she closed the blinds. Barely a minute later, the door opened and she stood there in the gown.

Now, Wilson had seen many female patients in the generic gowns that the hospital used. But he didn't think that he'd ever seen one quite so... Filled out before. Granted, usually the people in the gowns were sick, and usually his patients were dying and not looking their best. But this particular gown on this particular woman...

It hugged her generous hips, and the material stretched across her ample chest, hanging limply around her stomach. Her smooth legs were revealed, and they were as milky white as he remembered her arms being, her feet bare and unpainted. He noticed then that she didn't wear fingernail polish either.

He stepped into the room without passing comment, loudly clearing his throat. It was probably safer not to speak at the moment. Since meeting pretty Amy over a week ago, Wilson had often thought about how long it had been since he'd been intimate with a woman. And, usually, that would bring to mind what it might be like to be intimate with _this_ woman.

"Dr Wilson?"

He snapped out of his reverie and turned around. A nurse stood in the doorway, smiling at Amy and Elijah before turning back to the doctor. "Everything's all set for you now." And, having delivered her message, the nurse disappeared.

"Right. Are you ready to go, Elijah?" Wilson smiled down at the boy. They'd already gone through the argument about his aunt coming with him. It had reluctantly been agreed that she would wait in the room while Wilson took the boy to be x-rayed, and then they'd both come back once they were done.

Elijah sighed massively and nodded his head. "I guess."

"I'll wait right here for you, kid," Amy said softly, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Dr Wilson will look after you for me, won't you, doctor?" She looked up at him.

"Of course," Wilson nodded, smiling crookedly. He was _so_ in with this woman.

Amy waved as Elijah left with the doctor. As soon as they were out of sight, she sat down on the bed and heaved a heavy sigh, staring at the wall. There were far too many good looking doctors in this hospital. If she hadn't already thought that she was unattractive, she definitely would now.

She could distinctly remember the doctor that had come into the exam room over a week ago. She'd never actually gotten his name, but she'd recognise him if she saw him again. How could anyone not recognise a man that looked like that? His eyes were so intensely blue, his whole style so confident and self assured. And while not exactly the most attractive man ever, he was certifiably roguish. He had obviously aged, but had aged well.

The other doctor, Dr Wilson, was an entirely different matter. Amy had spent the first five minutes of their appointment that afternoon trying to think of the word that described his particular brand of good looks before deciding that the correct adjective was 'charming'. Even while looking like a full grown man, there was a certain boyishness about him that she actually enjoyed. Elijah liked him, too, which was odd yet further endearing.

Not that what she thought about them had anything to do with anything. Good looking people like the doctors that had occupied her mind of late didn't have to spend any more time than necessary with people like her. It would be a wasted effort to think otherwise. So, with nothing better to do, she made herself comfortable on the bed and turned on the television.

It wasn't long before the sound of the door sliding open disrupted Amy's bored viewing of the news and made her turn her head. The surprise she felt showed on her face when she saw the doctor with the cane smile at her and limp into the room, closing the door behind him.

"I thought you said you were fine," House said as he slowly made his way over to the bed.

Amy shifted a little further to the edge of the bed, away from the advancing man. "I am."

"Huh. From here, it looks like you've been admitted to a hospital." House reached the bed and, enjoying Amy's obvious discomfort over his proximity, sat down at the foot of it.

"Oh." Amy looked down at herself. She'd forgotten that she had the gown on. It was more comfortable than she had imagined. "No, I put this on for my nephew."

"He have some sort of strange fetish?" House asked, raising a brow.

"Don't be an idiot. He thought he looked stupid in his gown, so I thought I'd show him what 'looking stupid' means," Amy explained, raising her arms to indicate her current state. The gown was not at all flattering, in her opinion. It hugged her hips and her chest and sagged unattractively around her stomach. She shuddered to think what it might look like from behind. Not to mention the pale colour made her already pale complexion seem pastier.

"Yeah," House drew the word out as he let his eyes roam over the woman in front of him. He was beginning to think she had self-esteem issues. "It looks positively atrocious. And I mean that in the complete opposite sense of the word."

"If you're being caustic, please accept my most sarcastic gratitude. If you're being sincere, you may need to get your eyes checked." Amy shifted a little further away from House, folding her arms protectively around her middle.

House grinned. So far, he liked this woman. She had halfway interesting comebacks. "Whattaya watchin'?" He asked, bouncing on the bed as he turned completely around until he was laying down, next to a clearly freaking out Amy.

"News," she replied shortly, her arms tightening around her middle. There was something about this man that made her nervous, other than his good looks. Amy had no idea what it was, but there was definitely a siren going off in her head warning her to keep her distance from him. Apparently physical distance was a no go, however.

They sat in silence for at least three minutes before she couldn't take it anymore. "Don't you have work to do or something?" Amy asked, turning her head to face House.

"Nope." House flipped onto his side and propped his head up with his hand. "That's the beauty of being boss. People do your work for you." She stared at him without response, so he asked, "Don't _you _have work to do or something?"

"I'm self employed, set my own hours," Amy answered, getting up from the bed and moving closer to the window. If he was staying there, she might as well move. It was a small bed, hardly big enough for two adults to lay on without touching. She hoped that if anything was obvious about her, it was that she didn't like touching.

"Really? What do you do?" House let the sliver of intrigue that he felt enter his voice. She was incredibly young to be self employed. Unless she was some sort of wannabe artist. Maybe she wasn't so interesting.

"Do you really care?" Amy asked without inflection or taking her eyes from the window.

"Not in the least."

Amy made a face at that response, turning around to frown at House in confusion. Then she shrugged and looked back out the window. "At least you're honest."

"Everybody lies," House replied, getting off the bed and walking towards Amy.

"I don't."

House paused. He could tell by the soft, dismissive tone of voice that either Amy hadn't expected him to hear her response, or she hadn't meant to say it. If the latter was the case, it could mean that she was telling the truth about her truthfulness. Which didn't really mean anything. Even if she told the truth as she knew it, it was almost certainly still a lie.

"So." He came to a stand still beside her and watched her watching the scenery. "Why is it that you brought the nephew in and not his mother? Or father?"

A bizarrely dark look crossed Amy's features as her arms fell by her sides, her hands clenched into fists. "Because she's an idiot, and he's a shit."

"Wow. Well that clears everything right up," House said sarcastically. He added in a more serious tone, "Tell me."

Amy looked up at House over her shoulder. She looked at his face and saw that he was being serious, but didn't care. At all. He wanted her to tell him for the sake of knowing, not because he gave a damn. She turned to face him completely. "I don't know your name."

Of all the responses he had expected, House had to admit that that wasn't one of them. "Gregory House," he introduced, holding out his free hand. "Diagnostician extraordinaire."

Amy let him take her hand to shake, confused as he began to raise it to his face. When she realised what he was trying to do, she tried to pull away. But he gripped her fingers tightly, brought her hand to his lips and lightly kissed her knuckles.

Her sharp intake of breath was so loud, Amy was worried that the nurses outside the room would hear it and come rushing in to see what was wrong. In actuality, it was just a quiet hitch in her throat that boosted House's ego nicely. The deep, extremely noticeable blush that spread across her face and neck helped too.

The feel of his kiss on her hand was strange. The bristle of his beard roughly scraping, his lips softly dragging. Amy tried to pull her hand away again, this time succeeding. She cradled it against her chest as though she'd been burned, her face still burning.

"U-Uh," she stammered, then swallowed. The frightened, deer-caught-in-the-headlights look slowly faded from her face as she brought herself under control, a slight frown taking its place. "Don't do that again. Ever."

House grinned. "I can't make any promises." He shrugged innocently. Technically, he had kissed her before Wilson. If he ignored the implied parameters of the bet, he'd just made an easy hundred.

"I'm not asking for a promise, I'm setting a rule that will be obeyed," Amy said slowly but sternly, as though House was a particularly stubborn four year old.

"Ooh, dominatrix. I'm in," House said lowly as he inched a little closer.

The angry look instantly dropped from Amy's face and was replaced by one of confusion. She tilted her head to one side as she asked, "What's a 'dominatrix'?"

"You're kidding." House saw the pure confusion in her eyes and took a step back. Maybe there were some things that some people should not learn from him. "You're not kidding."

"House."

Both House and Amy turned at the same time to see a dark-skinned man standing in the doorway, looking curiously over at them. The man didn't move for a moment, looking from the curious young woman to the aggravated old man.

"Test results are back," the man announced.

A moment of silence. "And?" House prompted, turning towards the man.

"Uh..." The man looked between House and Amy. Clearly he was uncomfortable with discussing whatever he wanted to discuss in front of what appeared to be a patient.

"Go," Amy ordered, placing a hand on House's arm briefly. "Sounds like you're needed."

House whined, exaggeratedly squirming on the spot and pouting at the young woman. "Aw! But I don't wanna!"

"Then get another job," Amy replied with a shrug of her shoulders and a tiny smile.

House grinned, then pointed his cane at her. "You, wait right here. I'll be back."

"No way." Amy crossed her arms under her chest, keeping a straight face. "I'm gonna leave as soon as you're out that door. Ditch the kid, keep the gown. Why do you think I came here in the first place?"

"Oh," House's grin grew as he looked Amy up and down. "I like you."

"Of course you do. Now go away." Amy's smile made her face glow, her cheeks stained pink as her shoulders hunched a little and she took a step back, turning away.

Still grinning, House followed Foreman out of the room. "Another patient?" Foreman asked, confused about the bizarre exchange that he'd just witnessed.

"Potential love interest," House replied flippantly before immediately turning the conversation around onto the test results of his actual patient.

When Wilson brought Elijah back to the room where Amy was waiting, they found her sitting in the middle of the bed, inspecting the back of her hand while the news played quietly on the television. There was a tiny, enigmatic smile on her face that somehow made Wilson want to hold her.

"Yo," Elijah announced their return, his aunt smiling more genuinely at him.

"Hey. How'd you go?" She addressed the question up to Wilson.

He smiled at her, placing a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Your nephew was very well behaved."

"Damn straight he was," she laughed, holding her hand out to the kid. He sighed and rolled his eyes, but moved towards her and hugged her around the middle.

Wilson watched the display of affection with the desire to join in. He'd casually talked to Elijah about his aunt on the way to and from the x-ray, and he'd learned quite a bit about her. Apparently she was only shy around strangers, but once she got to know them a little, she bantered and laughed and smiled and joked. She was very clever, apparently.

"So," Wilson cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. "It takes twenty four hours for the x-rays to develop, so you're free until then."

"Okay." Amy nodded, one hand absentmindedly tugging at the opening of her gown. "Guess we'll be back tomorrow, then. Should I make an appointment, or just rock up?"

"You won't need an appointment," Wilson replied. "Just come to my office tomorrow afternoon, and we'll go over the results. If I think that more tests are necessary, we'll go over it then."

Amy nodded. "Okay. Sounds like a plan. In that case, have a nice day, Dr Wilson." She smiled, tilting her head a little.

Wilson knew a dismissal when he saw one. With a lopsided grin and a return wish of a nice day, he made his way out of the room, only glancing back once to see the blinds had been drawn, presumably so they could change.


End file.
